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Last night’s meeting of the PLP (parliamentary Labour party), not untypically, featured instances of abusive behaviour. Also typically, the abuse was by so-called ‘moderate’ MPs – as reported, uncritically, by ‘mainstream’ reporter Mikey Smith:

Reporter Mikey Smith’s tweet – obscenity edited by the SKWAWKBOX

It’s hard to avoid drawing an unflattering comparison with how this would be reported if a right-wing MP had stormed out after being called a ‘c**t’ by a left-wing colleague – days’ worth of headlines and analysis would follow, all of course blamed on Jeremy Corbyn. But it didn’t happen – and unlike right-on-left PLP abuse it’s almost unheard of.

Nor had Williamson said anything that, on the face of it, would be considered provocative. A parliamentary source told the SKWAWKBOX:

Chris was pointing out that every single MP in the room was only there because they stood under the Labour banner and had grassroots activists pulling out all the stops to knock on doors and deliver leaflets.

He had also mentioned the 200+ Jewish members who had signed an open letter last week saying that Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour Party are a crucial ally in the fight against racism, islamophobia and antisemitism.

He then called for unity behind our popular policies and it was important for Labour MPs to be out there talking about and supporting the most popular Labour programme for more than a generation – one that is backed by between 70 and 80% of the public.

Chris said a reason we weren’t well ahead in the polls was because of the failure of the PLP to promote our policy agenda – and he concluded by saying that we should be focusing on positively offering our alternative vision beyond the EU because that was the route back to power.

Williamson himself told the SKWAWKBOX:

It’s very disappointing that calling on Labour MPs to unite behind Labour’s policies and pointing out they’re in Parliament because they stood under the Labour banner and benefited from the efforts of grassroots members could prompt such uproar and a foul mouthed outburst.

Mikey Smith was contacted for comment. While not addressing the issue of asymmetrical treatment, he responded:

I’d apply the rules on sourcing in exactly the same way whoever had spoken – left, right or centrist.

Edit: Mikey Smith subsequently commented that his report of the MP’s comments was not inaccurate or untrue. The SKWAWKBOX is happy to confirm that his description was factual.

SKWAWKBOX comment:

As an episode of ‘moderate’ behaviour, last night’s conduct was appalling – but not unusually so.

As an illustration of the fact that the public is being fed a line that doesn’t match the facts – and as an example of the hypocritically-different treatment of abusive behaviour when it’s perpetrated by laughably-termed ‘moderates’ – it was priceless.

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Charlatans and traitors stalk the corridors of Lab party. How did they ever get selected. The enemies of our class cry out with glee. Is there no one with the acumen and guile to restore some justice. The worst part of this scam is that the reptiles haven’t even brought out their most malign weapons. Keep a cool head and trawl the orders and rules about dealing with open treason and sabotage. I just cannot listen or watch the news. Time to restore our talents, regroup and keep up the struggle. Take heart from other struggles and our history. Regards comrades.

Good wishes. That would be a good start. Where would one begin. Trawling through people’s emails, hiring pi’s. We need to get to the ringmaster and we need the courage to stand firm because they’ve only begun. There are a huge amount of clever tacticians in the party, let them loose. Pip bloody pip.

“It is clearly absurd, in objective historical terms, to blame Corbyn for Brexit, or to keep demanding that he ‘come out’ against it when his doing so would make no difference at all to the parliamentary reality (there is no majority in the house of commons for a people’s vote). But the members of this declining, delegitimated social elite have experienced both Brexit and Corbynism as part of exactly the same process; the process by which the people that they have governed and managed for a generation have turned around and rejected their authority and their world-view. Embracing the idea that Labour is institutionally antisemitic and racist, and that Brexit is Corbyn’s fault, are understandable psychosocial responses to the experience of this historical trauma. Such a response allows the members and partisans of this elite to tell themselves that they are defenders of liberal values, so that they do not have to face up to the fact that, in opposing Corbyn, they are defending nothing but their own sectional privileges and those of their corporate liege lords. What these stories are not is rational, descriptive accounts of any kind of objective social reality, that can be reasoned with politically or morally.

The conclusion is, the split was always going to happen, it will happen in waves, to cause as much damage as possible. “Corbyn could convert to Judaism, apply for Israeli citizenship and call for a People’s Vote tomorrow: their attacks on him would not relent for one second unless he agreed to give up control of the party; or at least to commit to a policy agenda approved by Merrill Lynch.”

” how do we assemble all of the potential allies at our disposal, to build an alternative to neoliberal hegemony, without getting bogged down in pointless debates with those who only want to defend it? That’s the question that the party and the leadership must now answer, if the splitters – who want nothing more than to maintain neoliberal hegemony – are not to get their way.”

The Tories have played a bit of a blinder with Brexit.. Whilst it has exposed rifts in the Tory Party, it has pushed Labour into looking ineffective as the Party shadows what remains (haha) essentially a Tory policy that is unpopular with the majority of members, and which gives the right in the Party ground to stand on.

The idea that the hedge fund wet dream of Brexit is a vehicle for radical social policies, driven by a renaissance of socialist sentiment is about as far-fetched as it gets, I’m afraid – as well as being against the wishes of the grass roots. (In short – it’s bollocks)

In practical electoral terms, the idea of lots of Kipper votes ready to be harvested to balance the loss of Remainer votes is a delusion and is based on a misapprehension of what analysis shows..

Now now RH,you are a thoughtful person on most subjects but you can’t be allowed to get away with that.The Labour party is boxed in by very considerable Labour voter support for Brexit and that vote could be crucial in seats Labour needs to win.I do agree that the idea of Brexit being a vehicle for radical socialist change is indeed “bollocks”.Corbyn and co have been handed a very difficult hand to play,in part because of the failures of New Labour,the considerable number of New Labour MPs who unfortunately remain are also doing their best from both inside and now outside the party to deny Labour victory.

Actually, I don’t much disagree with what you say, John. I just have a different perspective in what might have been a more forward-thinking strategy that led rather than followed.

… but that’s what I mean about the Tories ‘playing a blinder’ – despite the chaos, they’ve not, essentially been wrong-footed as the Party has been pulled to the right by the ERG. I fear the Overton window has inched that way, too because of that validation, and despite the notional support for Labour social policies viewed individually.

In electoral terms, my fear is that the lack of distinctive policy will tend to reinforce the SNP in Scotland (vital seats), and will soften support in England.

But staying in the neoliberal enforcement machine that is the EU somehow IS a vehicle for socialist advance , RH ? That is the same EU that destroyed the Greek economy for the German banks, and via the Eurozone , has destroyed the manufacturing sectors of Southern Europe to benefit German Capital’s more competitive economy . The EU , which, via its rules on Balanced budgets has enforced permanent austerity on all of Europe.

The trick the pro EU fanatic liberals like RH constantly pull is to make out the only Brexit is a hedge fund benefitting neoliberal one. The reality is that ANY Left government would quickly find itself forced to either kowtow to the Single Market rules, or leave. As even the Right populists in Italy are discovering as they try to abandon austerity. All too detailed for RH and co, who constantly make these pro EU claims, with no evidence to support their uncritical middle class privilege based EU fanaticism. That is because RH is a troll enemy of Jeremy and our Left agenda, sometimes pretending to be some sort of Leftie. He aint.

The point is jpenny,we are even more vulnerable to the forces of neoliberalism outside the EU than we are within it.The UK is no longer bid enough to stand on its own,and especially with an economy now dominated by the City and services.Please wake up.It is a dark picture in our out of the EU,but the EU is more susceptible to reform in my opinion than the world outside it!

“I’d apply the rules on sourcing in exactly the same way whoever had spoken – left, right or centrist”

Doesn’t that sentence imply that he believes he has a choice – and if so what kind of rules are those?
How can – and why would – an MP making such an outburst later demand that it be treated as “in confidence?”
Unless there was a quid pro quo, like a heads-up on the next quitter?

Because “This is in strictest confidence but X is a c**t” would be ridiculous.

Further update. I post this only as confirmation (rather than a surprise) of the blanket bias in the ‘antisemitism’ coverage (note the quotation marks).

Having watched a bit of Sky News at random whilst I was in hospital for the morning having a routine procedure, I came back home and, whilst unpacking, just turned on the radio. Again – a pretty random listen.

No prizes – this was 5 Live with a panel discussion which – again – betrayed a total lack of inquiry as it accepted, across the board, the Israeli-Right line on what Chris Williamson had – or hasn’t – said.

The sheer repetitive intellectual dishonesty meant a quick turn-off (in more than one sense).

But, the seriousness is in this total control of the media which is more sinister than anything else that I can recall.

And more : see the article on the JVL website about the showing of Jackie Walker’s film ‘Witchunt’.

The overt shutting down of reasonable analysis and debate is proof positive of the venality of those who pretend to righteousness. FFS – I keep all sorts of books on my shelves so that I am informed of a range of views – it doesn’t scare me shitless if I don’t agree.

It was only a matter of time before the depth of duplicity broke surface. This has been a patient, multiplayer coup, without the need of faux justice. How we ended up with such a formidable opponent is beyond me. He’s coarse, he’s crude and would be much better off if he could spend his time in a special room where he can shout profanities at defenceless women and shy volunteers. Should his venal vocabulary desert him, Lady Pottymouth will always be on hand to assist him. Comrades, keep a weather eye some of our beloved, highly loved, unelected power brokers. You know the ones. They never discuss poverty and struggle. God luck to us all, oh yes, any threats made by mps to leave should be encouraged but I don’t think that is part of the plan. Regards

It is difficult not to become despondent sometimes. I still think it was a fundamental mistake to ignore the wishes of the membership and thwart the passing of OMOV mandatory re-election at conference. Accountability to their CLPs would have had a chastening effect.